Page 49 of Infamous

Eddie supposed they were abandoning reason this evening for this particular brand of madness, and it seemed foolish to complain when it was all so agreeable; she sat down heavily in the chair and Rose followed into her lap, her fingers curling in Eddie’s hair. Eddie was just finally exploring the curve of Rose’s throat, fascinated by the way Rose’s breath went ragged and her hands fisted when Eddie’s lips ghosted over her skin, when there was a knock at the door.

‘Ah,’ Rose said in a very strangled voice, immediately getting to her feet, clutching her towel to herself and looking to the door with wild-eyed panic.

‘Miss Miller? Miss Li?’ Liza called from the hall. ‘Luncheon is ready when you are. Shall I send Anne in to dress you?’

‘Thank you,’ Eddie called back, trying not to laugh at the expression on Rose’s face. ‘Yes, send her in. I think we are quite finished.’

*

Luncheon – and the rest of the day, for that matter – was entirely taken up with dramatic retellings of Rose’s near-demise and heroic rescue from all perspectives; Kitty, who considered herself a swimming proficient, was clearly very disappointed that she had been otherwise occupied when the time came to save an actual victim from the water.

‘I still don’t understand how you managed to almost drown not twenty feet from the boathouse,’ she said crossly, as if Rose had done it on purpose.

For her part, Rose seemed horrified by all the attention; she gave polite, perfunctory answers when asked how her nerves were managing or exactly how it had felt when she first realised her predicament, and then excused herself to the bedroom to rest, Albert jumping up to assist her. She glanced over at Eddie, but Albert was already proffering an arm, and she hardly neededtwopeople to lean on.

Eddie was actually rather glad that she had gone; it had been impossible to look at her without remembering how she’d felt under Eddie’s palms, and she still wasn’t sure what exactly she was supposed to do with any ofthat.

After the morning’s excitement nobody except Albert could quite rouse themselves for an afternoon walk; they sat around in the South Parlour watching Kitty work on her painting of Rose, adding quite a lot of watery blue where before there had been lush greens and golds. When Albert returned from his constitutional they were all feeling too lazy to even greet him; he sat down next to Eddie and took up his book, and Eddie gave him a gentle nudge with her elbow.

‘It was very brave of you to jump in after her,’ she said quietly. ‘You saved her life, Albert. What a thing.’

‘What a thing indeed,’ Albert said, sighing heavily. ‘Strange, isn’t it, how quickly a day can turn? One moment you’re living a very ordinary life, and the next .?.?.’

Eddie shuddered, again thinking of how different the rest of this day – and indeed, her life – could have been. She felt as if she had glimpsed a ghost of herself: her twin, sitting in this very parlour, knowing that Rose was gone forever and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. They might have found Rose washed up on shore, like that poor maid from Valentine’s story. She felt sobered by the horror of how fragile life really was.

‘I suppose I should be kinder to you,’ Eddie said with a tone of deepest resignation. Albert chuckled.

‘Yes. I suppose you should.’

Nash came wandering in with a bottle of claret in hand and gently tapped Eddie on the shoulder with it.

‘Your time is up, Edie. You owe me one manuscript, ready or not. And do not try to drown any more of our companions to provide further distractions.’

‘Too soon,’ said Kitty, muffled by the paintbrush clenched between her teeth.

Eddie’s stomach cramped uncomfortably. ‘All right. It’s nowhere near finished, so .?.?. you’ll just have the first half, and it’s a first draft, Nash, so you can’t expect much from it .?.?.’

‘No excuses,’ he said merrily. ‘I expect it on my desk post-haste.’

‘Actually on your desk?’

‘Oh, God, no. Just put it in my hand. Or throw it at me from a height and we’ll make a game of it, to see if I can catch it.’

*

When Eddie finally made her way up to bed that night, after a dinner that had dragged on for an age as Nash drunkenly regaled them all with the details of a meeting he’d had with his editor (everybody else had seemed quite bored; Eddie had been on the verge of whipping out a pen to take notes), Rose seemed to be asleep. Eddie undressed carefully in the dark, trying not to disturb her, but when she slipped into bed Rose immediately turned over as if she’d been waiting for her.

‘Go back to sleep,’ Eddie said, petting Rose on the arm as she got settled.

‘Don’t want to,’ Rose mumbled. ‘Come here.’

‘I am here. I don’t know how much more here I could possibly be.’

Rose answered by pressing her body to Eddie’s side, one arm coming up around her waist as she sleepily lifted her head. Her lips brushed against the corner of Eddie’s mouth, and Eddie felt her body respond immediately, yearning to pull Rose closer.

It felt easy. Tender. Thrilling.

But also .?.?. deeply foolish.